Friday, May 21, 2010

Everyone thought we were crazy for going snorkeling in Alaska, and I have to admit I was a little nervous. After getting all dressed up in our gear(squeezing into it), we hit the water. It wasn’t much of a shock waiting for the wetsuits to fill with water as I thought it would be, but putting your face in the water was crazy! The only part that got really cold was your lips around the snorkel.

Manda’s face (above) shows how squished you felt in the wetsuit. The tighter they were, the warmer you were! Everyone was doing some free diving to see cool stuff, but I am a scaredy cat and wouldn’t put a weight belt on…I just KNEW it would drown me/I would choke to death on salt water!

Kyle looks like a special agent in his wetsuit, Dustin was trying to pick his nose and Jeremy looks like he is in shock or something!

All in all, I highly recommend snorkeling if you plan on going to Alaska anytime. It was so fun to swim around and see all the cool fish that live in the pacific ocean. I know we had a blast!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Skagway was our #3 stop. It was a town built around the Gold Rush and we just walked around for a bit before returning to the ship. It was Amanda’s Birthday so first Mancub and I got massages at the spa and then went to a Restaurant on the boat that had Hibachi (sp) tables. The chef guy was pretty funny, and the dinner wouldn’t be complete without him throwing food into people’s mouths. Luckily, Amanda and I were spared :).

This was BY FAR the craziest night yet. We did some dancing of course and then witnessed the most entertainment of the cruise. They had a Dancing with the Stars game. Grandpa Barrett was the lucky one who got chosen to participate. He has been having a hard time with his knee though, so after much consideration he chose to have Jeremy take his place. The picture of Jeremy half-naked does not do this night justice.

Port #4: Icy Straight (Hoonah)

We were only here for a few hours. The fun part was that the boat anchored down in the bay and we had to take “tender” boats to shore…a.k.a. the life boats from the ship. At least that proved they all work! We only took a few pictures, I think we were all pretty tired at this point.

After being on shore for about an hour, we spent the last few watching two whales swim back and forth across the bay. It was fun to see them swimming around for so long probably chasing little snacks in the water.

Stop #5, Ketchikan

This was such a pretty city. We were only at port for a few hours as well, which we spent snorkeling. It was so much fun, I only wish we had a digital underwater camera because I haven’t picked up the pictures from the disposable one yet. I can’t wait to get them up! I wish we could have stayed here longer because it looked like there was so much to do!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

At around 7 am Tuesday morning we pulled into Juneau. The first thing I noticed (but forgot to take pictures of) is how all of the houses along the shore had no yard. Well, I am sure they had a yard but they all had trees instead of grass. It was like they only cut down just enough trees to make space for a house and that was it. It was kinda cool. Anyway, the ship Captain guy pulled a 360 and parallel parked the beast of a boat and we were in our first port.

Our friend Jesse lives in Juneau so she gave us a private tour. First we went to the Mendenhall Glacier:

We all took turns holding icebergs, and couldn’t resist the photo-op with the old Christmas tree someone discarded in the bay! Dustin made me hold the bigger one of the two

but I guess his brothers were tougher than him!

Our furry mountain goat friend:

This waterfall was uh-mazing! It was huge and we were able to hike down to it thanks for our tour guide Jesse!

Some (ok, Jeremy) felt like doing a little mountain climbing while we were there too:

Only in Alaska could you find a sign like this below. To translate: if you or something around you catches on fire past this point, you are S.O.L.! ps-yes my eyes are closed

Tour guide Jesse also brought us to this Catholic shrine of sorts. This crazy meditation maze got the best of everyone but Kyle and I. We were the smart ones who just took pictures.

Later, Amanda and I did some tourist shopping while the boys rested…or did they?